Anti-LGBTQ abuse has increased on Twitter since Elon Musk took over, report finds
Tweets containing one anti-LGBTQ slur increased by 1,200% across nine accounts, the Media Matters and GLAAD report finds.
Anti-LGBTQ abuse on Twitter has increased since Elon Musk took over the platform, according to a new report.
Research by Media Matters and the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) shows that despite claims from the business magnate that hate speech on Twitter has fallen, that is far from the case.
Musk acquired Twitter in October and the stories that have emerged since paint a desperate picture. Employees were told early on they must work “long hours at high intensity” or leave, the Washington Post reports.
Musk also said the platform would “continue to combat hate & harassment”. He also wants Twitter to be somewhere where “free speech” can be allowed to exist. He is also anti-censorship.
According to the report, nine anti-LGBTQ accounts saw a 1,200% increase in retweets of the slur ‘groomer’. This includes Gays Against Groomes. In real terms figures that is a jump from 3,600 to over 48,000. Mentions in tweets with the same slur jumped up 1,100% from 5,300 to more than 65,000.
Musk has reinstated anti-LGBTQ figures such as James Lindsay and Babylon Bee since his takeover. Both have used the above slur and previously violated the platform’s policy on hateful content.
The report looked at data comparing tweets mentioning the anti-LGBTQ slur (“groomer” or “grooming”) between 27 September and 27 October and from 28 October to 28 November. It found that retweets of right-wing figures’ tweets including the slur increased substantially, as did mentions of right-wing figures in tweets containing the slur.
Another right-wing, anti-LGBTQ account, Libs of TikTok, saw more than a 600% increase in the mentions, going from nearly 2,000 to almost 14,000. The report lists other accounts such as those of Jake Shields, Jack Posobiec, and Tim Pool.
More tweets with the slur have been aimed at LGBTQ accounts, the report notes. “One account seeing an increase of over 225,000% after Musk officially got the platform,” the report reads.
Over the weekend, Musk himself mocked the use of pronouns writing: “My pronouns are Prosecute/Fauci”.
When people criticised Musk he replied with: “Forcing your pronouns upon others when they didn’t ask, and implicitly ostracizing those who don’t, is neither good nor kind to anyone.”